The Aristocrats US/Canada East Coast Tour Wrap-Up

[Ed Yoon]

The tour of the US/Canada east coast is over and I can say that it was a resounding success. The turn-out was really good everywhere we went and the the shows were extremely well accepted by the audiences. All of the shows were great and there wasn't a single "off night" but I thought the gigs in Montreal and Philly stood out as exceptional. The shows in Baltimore and Chicago were really good too.

It was great to see some of you guys here on Rig-Talk in person during the tour. Thanks for coming out to support the band and I'm glad you guys enjoyed the shows. The band members are really enjoying playing together and we will embark on tours of Europe (at least twice), Southeast Asia, India, Australia, South America, and the Far East Asia again in 2012. We'll do a short US west coast tour after NAMM in '12 but there's so much demand overseas that I think we'll focus on that next year.

Here are some choice pics from the tour so far. More will come soon. We also hope to have good video footage and audio material for a live album in 2012 but we've got a lot of reviewing to do. Cheers!

 

[chumbucket]

Were those pics all from the Montreal show?

 

[Ed Yoon]

Were those pics all from the Montreal show?

Yes, from the Montreal show. We should get some nice pro shots from the Toronto and Chicago shows as well but these are definitely the best pics we have to date.

 

[Ed Yoon]

And since this is Rig-Talk, here's a rundown of Guthrie's gear during the tour and a few more photos:

GUITAR: Suhr Guthrie Govan Signature Antique Modern

AMP: Suhr Badger 30 All-Tube 38w Head

CABINET: Suhr 2×12 with WGS Veteran 30 Speakers

EFFECTS:

Suhr Koko Boost
TC Electronic Polytune
Guyatone WR-3 Autowah
Providence Anadime Analog Chorus
Dunlop Jerry Cantrell Signature Wah
Ernie Ball VP Jr Volume Pedal
TC Electronic Flashback Digital Delay (FX Loop)
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Digital Reverb (FX Loop)

PICK: Red Bear Big Jazzer Heavy

STRINGS: Rotosound Roto Yellows .010-.046

 

[ACShreds]

The berklee show was ridiculous. one of my favorite concerts easily

 

[Superunknown]

Great pics Ed! Do you know which Tone Print Guthrie uses with his Flashback Delay???

 

[stefvorcide]

I missed everything!!! I totaly forgot

 

[chumbucket]

And since this is Rig-Talk, here's a rundown of Guthrie's gear during the tour and a few more photos:

GUITAR: Suhr Guthrie Govan Signature Antique Modern

AMP: Suhr Badger 30 All-Tube 38w Head

CABINET: Suhr 2×12 with WGS Veteran 30 Speakers

EFFECTS:

Suhr Koko Boost
TC Electronic Polytune
Guyatone WR-3 Autowah
Providence Anadime Analog Chorus
Dunlop Jerry Cantrell Signature Wah
Ernie Ball VP Jr Volume Pedal
TC Electronic Flashback Digital Delay (FX Loop)
TC Electronic Hall of Fame Digital Reverb (FX Loop)

PICK: Red Bear Big Jazzer Heavy

STRINGS: Rotosound Roto Yellows .010-.046

Thanks for the pics and info.
His tone was great at that Montreal show. The chorus sound was reminiscent of Scofield. I have the feeling though that Guthrie could probably play a Squier into a Gorilla and make it sound nearly as good. Its also funny to look at his pedalboard which is kind of thrown together as opposed to some of the guys here who play in their basements and have elaborate meticulously laid out boards that are velcro'd and wired with esoteric cable and power supplies.

 

[ericb]

Thanks for posting . I had no idea you were their manager. . Were you AT the Burlington , VT show? They were fantastic, and myself and all the fellow musicians in the audience loved them .. . every part of the show was GREAT.. I gave a gear runddown at the Gear Page, but not here! Glad someone did. .haha.. . Anyway , I had a great month , in between 4-5 gigs of my own it worked out perfectly , got to see Umphrees Mcgee, the ARistocrats, and then last night Dream Theater and PERIPHERY!!!! I'm a lucky guitarist

Eric

 

[Giga]

I'm looking forward to their gig in Holland early next year

Giga

 

[Valtyr]

I need to get their album.

 

[Ed Yoon]

Great pics Ed! Do you know which Tone Print Guthrie uses with his Flashback Delay???

No, I'm not sure. I'll check with him and find out.

 

[Ed Yoon]

Thanks for the pics and info.
His tone was great at that Montreal show. The chorus sound was reminiscent of Scofield. I have the feeling though that Guthrie could probably play a Squier into a Gorilla and make it sound nearly as good. Its also funny to look at his pedalboard which is kind of thrown together as opposed to some of the guys here who play in their basements and have elaborate meticulously laid out boards that are velcro'd and wired with esoteric cable and power supplies.

Yes, the Montreal show was awesome. Guthrie gets a great fat warm chorus sound with that Anadime Analog Chorus. Scofield is certainly one of Guthrie's favorite players and Bryan's tune 'Greasy Wheel' was written with him in mind.

Guthrie subscribes to the less-is-more philosophy when it comes to gear and keeping things simple. Part of it is just the sheer practicality of it during a tour for fast set-up and tear-down and so he can also fit the pedalboard (made out of a wooden tea tray) inside the suitcase. Airlines charge for extra luggage and also if your one piece of luggage goes over 50 pounds, so you have to keep these things in mind during a tour.

All the big meticulous pedalboards just aren't practical for the road unless you're in a big band with a high travel budget with roadies, etc. This is a rock-fusion instrumental trio and we have to keep things as lean and efficient as possible.

 

[Ed Yoon]

Thanks for posting . I had no idea you were their manager. . Were you AT the Burlington , VT show? They were fantastic, and myself and all the fellow musicians in the audience loved them .. . every part of the show was GREAT.. I gave a gear runddown at the Gear Page, but not here! Glad someone did. .haha.. . Anyway , I had a great month , in between 4-5 gigs of my own it worked out perfectly , got to see Umphrees Mcgee, the ARistocrats, and then last night Dream Theater and PERIPHERY!!!! I'm a lucky guitarist

Eric

Yes, I've been at it since June and loving every second of it. I also have other consulting jobs in the guitar industry - mainly with large manufacturers based in Asia. Yes, I was at the Burlington, VT show. I traveled with the band for the whole tour as the tour manager, driver, roadie-tech, merch salesperson, etc. It was just the band and me. We're a lean-and-mean little operation.

Glad you enjoyed the show. I think you agree that this is a different kind of instrumental band. There's some serious over-the-top musicianship here but it's not at all like what Dream Theater or Steve Vai would do. Things are looser and the guys like having fun and doing a lot of off-the-cuff spontaneous stuff that changes from night to night. Improvisation is a very big part of what this band does. I'm quite certain that this band will carve out its own niche in the rock/fusion instrumental genre.

 

[ericb]

Thanks for posting . I had no idea you were their manager. . Were you AT the Burlington , VT show? They were fantastic, and myself and all the fellow musicians in the audience loved them .. . every part of the show was GREAT.. I gave a gear runddown at the Gear Page, but not here! Glad someone did. .haha.. . Anyway , I had a great month , in between 4-5 gigs of my own it worked out perfectly , got to see Umphrees Mcgee, the ARistocrats, and then last night Dream Theater and PERIPHERY!!!! I'm a lucky guitarist

Eric

Yes, I've been at it since June and loving every second of it. I also have other consulting jobs in the guitar industry - mainly with large manufacturers based in Asia. Yes, I was at the Burlington, VT show. I traveled with the band for the whole tour as the tour manager, driver, roadie-tech, merch salesperson, etc. It was just the band and me. We're a lean-and-mean little operation.

Glad you enjoyed the show. I think you agree that this is a different kind of instrumental band. There's some serious over-the-top musicianship here but it's not at all like what Dream Theater or Steve Vai would do. Things are looser and the guys like having fun and doing a lot of off-the-cuff spontaneous stuff that changes from night to night. Improvisation is a very big part of what this band does. I'm quite certain that this band will carve out its own niche in the rock/fusion instrumental genre.

Every single one of the musicians that were friends I knew in the audience LOVED the show. Everyone else I knew went to the clinic also and they loved that as well. They loved the 1 on 1 nature and the audience interaction (just as you're indicating basically was the goal!) Only problem with this kind of bands , is there's only so many people who really appreciate them and go to the shows. . Scott Henderson is one of my guitar idols and he also would interact with us as a crowd like these guys did.. HOWEVER, each time I saw him , outside Boston , in Burlington and in Schenectady , NY , he played to between 30 -80 people. . It was awful , when us local bands can draw way more people playing cover music. Just a sad state of affairs when some of the best fusion/rock /funk musicians in the world draw less than a local cover band. ANyway with that said, each time I saw Scott play I left SOOO Inspired and SOOO Happy , and the same was surely true seeing the Aristocrats. I"d see them every week if I could! Thanks for promoting and managing them

Eric